Los Angeles Police Protective League Voices Strong Support for Digital Signs in City of Los Angeles
Sign Up LA releases letter from League Urging City to Take Action to Use Digital Signsto Bring Needed Revenue to City and Protect Public Safety Benefits

LOS ANGELES, April 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Los Angeles Police Protective League, representing the nearly 10,000 police officers in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), sent a letter to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and published an article in The Thin Blue Line voicing support for the City's digital signs. Both the letter and the article discuss the need for the City to develop a reasonable legislative solution to the digital sign issue in order to provide much needed revenues, secure public safety jobs and aide in public safety efforts.

In the letter to the Mayor, Tyler Izen, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League Board of Directors, discusses the critical need for the City to develop a legislative solution to allow for the continued benefits digital signs provide:

"We urge you to develop a legislative solution for digital signs that could positively impact this year's budget, keep police and fire personnel on the street, save civilian jobs in the Department and maintain the level of public safety worthy of the City of Los Angeles."

The article featured in the trade publication The Thin Blue Line can be read here.

Besides the potential revenues digital signs could generate for the City, which could protect vital services from being cut, digital signs also provide significant public safety benefits. Sign companies in Los Angeles frequently partner with public safety agencies, such as the LAPD, U.S. Marshals and FBI, to provide space on their digital signs to display important and time-sensitive information critical to the continued safety of local communities.

For example, LAPD alerts ran on the signs in Los Angeles during the manhunt for Christopher Dorner, and the FBI used digital signs in Boston to post alerts about the marathon bombing suspects.

Unfortunately, digital signs in the City of Los Angeles were recently turned off, with a court determining the signs' permits, issued by the City, were not valid. Until the City Council can advance a comprehensive digital sign policy, this important resource for law enforcement agencies will not be available in Los Angeles.

Sign Up LA, a coalition of business groups, nonprofit organizations, community groups and sign companies, supports the reasonable use and location of digital signs in Los Angeles to ensure the Los Angeles community continues to benefit from the critical public safety benefits they provide. More than 450 municipalities in 43 states have already adopted policies that allow for and regulate digital signs, providing significant economic and community benefits, revenue generation opportunities and traditional sign takedowns.

Sign Up LA will continue to be active in the public dialogue as the City of Los Angeles considers a legislative solution to address issues surrounding digital signage.